United Nations Development Programme

Engendering Access to Justice

12 Jun 2014

Grassroots Women’s Approaches to Securing Land Rights

This report presents grassroots women’s approaches to access justice with focus on land and property rights in Africa. This community empowerment-based research undertaken by the Huairou Commission and its partner groups across seven African countries – Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe – showcases women’s rights challenges and effective strategies to improve women’s access to justice. These grassroots women’s groups are making an impact and gaining increased recognition for their contributions to their communities, through strategies such as community mapping exercises, local-to-local dialogues, working with diverse stakeholders, and developing community watchdogs and training community paralegals. UNDP provided a grant, with funds from the government of Germany, to the Huairou Commission to undertake this action-based research.